Analysis of the Warehouse Automation Failure at Sainsbury’s The WritePass Journal

Analysis of the Warehouse Automation Failure at Sainsbury’s Abstract Analysis of the Warehouse Automation Failure at Sainsbury’s ). Even though the company being outsourced to might have had a good reputation in implementing such projects, the lack of involvement by parent company managers in the monitoring and evaluation of the project can affect the attainment of the intended objective (Alexander Walker, 2013). The minimal involvement by Sainsbury’s management in this project explains why it took three years and a change in leadership to realize that the project was not likely to attain its set objectives (Alexander Walker, 2013). Another possible cause, which has also been identified by Double Loop (2013) is that there was insufficient engagement between the company’s CEO and its IT suppliers in projecting the possible key business and IT risks. For this reason, no delivery strategy that could tackle these challenges was promptly designed (Chermack, 2011). This can also be considered as the lack of sufficient preparations by the then CEO (Sir Peter Davis) before the initiation of the project. Insufficient preparation exposes projects to the risk of possible failure and over-expenditure (Kardes et al., 2013). There was also a communication problem, which can be mainly blamed on Sir Peter Davis. Whereas it must have been known to him that the project could probably fail to serve its intended objective, his presentation about the project to the public was that its progress was as planned and that by 2003, it had saved the company  £700 million. Had the issues been frankly and promptly pointed out, necessary measures could have been undertaken to avert the heavy loss that was later incurred (Aula Siira, 2010). Given that this failure was associated with the warehouse automation exercise at Sainsbury’s warehouse automation project, it is also worth noting that the failure might have been partly caused by automation challenges. The fact that automated system failed to operate as it was intended to, indicates that all the inputs in terms of time, money and resources were lost (Kardes et al., 2013). Porter’s Value chain Analysis of the Failure Porters value chain model can be used to identify the primary and supporting activities which contributed to the failure at Sainsbury’s According to Porter (1985), generic value added activities can be divided into two. These are primary activities and support activities. Primary activities comprise of inbound and outbound logistics, sales and marketing, services and operations. Supporting activities, on the other hand, comprise of firm infrastructure, senior management roles, internal culture, procurement, outsourcing and technological developments. The model is represented in the diagram below, in which the functions that contributed to the failure at Sainsbury’s have been marked. Fig. 1: Sainsbury’s value chain components that contributed to the failure in warehouse automation The functions marked in the value chain model above have been identified as the contributors towards the identified failure. They are explained in more detail below: Outbound logistics: in the value chain, outbound logistics are referred to as activities that mainly relate to transference of goods to customers through warehousing. The automation of the warehouse at Sainsbury’s was being done so as to facilitate this primary activity in the organization. The failure of the warehouse automation to effectively take place thus affected the activities in outbound logistics (Zott et al., 2011). Senior management Roles: There was a failure by the senior management, led by the company’s CEO to effectively make an exhaustive plan of the warehouse automation project, which could have identified the potential risks and contributed to the formulation of possible strategies to overcome these challenges (Kardes et al., 2013). Another failure by the management was in terms of their involvement in the implementation of the project, only to identify issues three years after implementation of the project (Double Loop, 2013). Internal Communications: This function refers to how effectively and accurately information is passed within the organizational precinct (Wright, 2012). The failure was due to the miscommunication by the CEO, where he purported that the project was on the right track and had in fact saved the company a reasonable amount of money. This shows that he was either being given the wrong information by the contractor company or he was presenting wrong information about the project. Technology developments:   It has to be acknowledged that the company’s agenda was to improve its service delivery to its customers through technological innovation. However, given that the entire automation project failed to materialize, it can be argued that there was a technological development failure. According to Porter’s (1985) model, technological development comprises of all activities that relate to the processing and management of information. It also involves the activities undertaken in ensuring that the organization keeps up with the latest technological changes. Outsourcing: The IT automation project was undertaken by Accenture, an outsourced IT company, which failed to deliver the intended automation results, and ultimately led to the cancellation of the contract (Double Loop, 2013). Conclusion This paper has presented a case of warehouse automation failure at Sainsbury’s in 2004. With the help of the Porter’s value chain model, several primary and supporting activities that might have contributed to the failure have been identified. The identified primary activities are inbound logistics and outbound logistics. Supporting activities are outsourcing, technology developments, internal communications and senior management roles. The fact that all these activities affected and were also affected by the warehouse automation failure at Sainsbury’s proves that many operational failures or disasters that occur because there is lack of understanding of the whole organization, resulting in problems in the synchronization of different organizational functions. References Alexander, A. Walker, H., 2013. Sustainable supply chain management: towards a systems theory perspective. Dublin: EUROMA conference. Double Loop, 2013. Sainsbury’s Warehouse Automation Project. [Online] Available at:   Ã‚  doubleloopconsulting.com/sainsbury-warehouse-automation   [Accessed 6 March 2014]. Kardes, I., Ozturk, A., Cavusgil, S.T. Cavusgil, E., 2013. Managing global megaprojects: Complexity and risk management. International Business Review, 22(6), pp.905-17. OBrien, L., 2004. Digital disaster. [Online] Available at:   Ã‚  supplymanagement.com/analysis/features/2004/digital-disaster/   [Accessed 6 March 2014]. Porter, M., 1985. Competitive Advantage. New York: Free Press. Sainsburys, 2014. About us. [Online] Available at: j-sainsbury.co.uk/about-us/   [Accessed 6 March 2014]. Zott, C., Amit, R. Massa, L., 2011. The business model: recent developments and future research. Journal of Management , 37(4), pp.1019-42. Abdullah, L.M. Verner, J.M., 2012. Analysis and application of an outsourcing risk framework. Journal of Systems and Software, 85(8), pp.1930-52. Aula, P. Siira, K., 2010. Organizational Communication and Conflict Management Systems: A Social Complexity Approach. Nordicom Review, 31, pp.125-41. Chermack, T.J., 2011. Scenario Planning in Organizations. California: Berrett-Koehler. Wright, M., 2012. Gower Handbook of Internal Communication. Burlington: Gower Publishing.

Good Governance in Chile and Argentina Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Good Governance in Chile and Argentina - Essay Example Within Latin America, Chile is held up as an example where democratic institutions are making headway. In other countries such as Argentina, the fight against corruption, remnants of populism and a weak judicial system are in evidence almost daily. Is the establishment and maintenance of good governance possible in Latin America? Using Chile and Argentina as examples it becomes clear that in our analysis of good governance we should not be limited by one model but should take into account the diversity of problems and the level of difficulty in resolving these problems when we choose to analyze whether or not a state’s governance is ‘good’. Good governance is a universal term used to describe the level of democracy, human rights and the forms of participatory government present within a country’s political system. At its core is the democratic system which is seen as the optimal system for allowing citizens maximum freedom of expression and participation in political processes. Wijkman (1998) claims that, â€Å"Good governance entails a vast set of democratic processes and institutions at every level of society, from the local council to regional, national and international institutions, that allow the voices of the people to be heard, conflicting interests to be peacefully resolved, and a forging of consensus towards greater social progress (p. 89).† Good governance became an important concept in the late 80s when it became tied to foreign aid programs, in addition to playing a crucial role in analyzing a country’s competitiveness for foreign investment (‘Weapons of Mass Upliftment’). While in the era of the Cold War â€Å"the flow of aid, in particular by major bilateral donors, was strongly influenced by strategic foreign policy interests†.

Health Economic summer 2010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health Economic summer 2010 - Essay Example Gordon et al. (2010) have researched the impact of such tests on smoking cessation programmes and chain smokers considering the costs involved. Their research focus has been to evaluate the impact of genetic test needs of routine smoking cessation programmes on chain smokers to measure the cost effectiveness of such initiatives. No quality methods can measure the impact of such health interventions except the cost valuation approaches used within cost-benefit analysis. Through the use of common currency result measures, researchers have estimated the cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) to measure the validity of running such tests. Already much work has been accomplished regarding cost per QALY estimates by clinicians and through smoking cessation services. General impression on carrying genetic tests has been positive for treatment interventions but QALY assessment is not enough to evaluate the complex effect due to psychosocial nature of the treatment for public and individu al health impact. There have been limitations in deriving results as one-size does not fit to all (Kelly et al. 2005). The cost-utility analysis (CUA)evaluations can measure health impacts by making comparisons in all fields of health that help in distribution of resources but are unable to map the non-health outcomes and opportunity cost of such programmes (Kelly et al. 2005). The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) appraises all costs and benefits through currency terms. In case the benefits are more than costs, it is suggested to spend more money on such programmes and in case the reverse is happening, further investment can be put on hold. The CBA approach is appealing and genuine but it is a complex mechanism to perform appraisal because monetary terms are involved for evaluating health and economic viability of conducting genetic tests. Economists’ evaluations not recommended previously can be attempted as has been done to measure the changed impact of taxation on drinking alco hol and smoking of cigarettes to further the research on it (Kelly et al. 2005). Gordon et al. (2010) have used two strategic models for a hypothetical cohort of chain smokers above 50 years of age. By selecting people who have both undergone and not taken the genetic test in a smoking cessation intervention, they have included nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and counseling. Data has been captured to be based on Markov model considering randomized examination and meta-evaluation of 12-month quit rates and long-term relapse rate for measuring risk of lung cancer to participants in the intervention. The model covered five health states. As per the two strategies, the smoking cessation programmes were run with and without genetic tests producing results that the people may not, probably enter into relapse and start smoking again as evaluated from the outcomes of 12 months (Gordon et al. 2010). A cohort of 50 years old men and women consuming 20 cigarettes a day entered the smoking c essation programme. Generally, such an initiative considers general practitioners’ advice, telephone counseling and NRT treatment given during 12 weeks. There have been in practice some pharmacological treatments with better smoking cessation rates but NRT is widely accepted as a means of quitting smoking. For genetic testing blood samples are collected to for

Ethics in Public Administration Essay Example for Free

Ethics in Public Administration Essay The national bicentennial in 1976 marked two important birthdays for public administration. It was the ninetieth anniversary of the appearance of the first fully developed essay on what was considered a new or at least a separately identified field public administration. In that essay, the young political scientist Woodrow Wilson (1941) wrote the now famous words, administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. Administrative questions are not political questions; although politics sets the tasks for administration, it should not be suffered to manipulate its offices. And it was exactly fifty years since the publication of Leonard White (1926) text, Introduction to the Study of Public Administration, the first in the field. Whites book was, for his time, an advanced and sophisticated attempt to marry the science of government and the science of administration. Whereas Wilson had argued that public administration is a field of business and should be separate from politics, White forty years later countered that public administration can be effective only if it constitutes an integration of the theory of government and the theory of administration. As fields or professions go, public administration is young. Its early impetus was very much connected with civil service reform, the city manager movement, the good government movement, and the professionalization of the administrative apparatus of government. It was in this era that principles of administration were developed and the first academic programs in the field were established at American universities. This was a heady era, during which the United States civil service was developed, an innovation adopted in many American states and municipalities. Formal systems of budgeting and purchasing were adopted, and other aspects of the science of management were applied to government affairs. Many of the early leaders in this reform movement also played out important political roles, most notably Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Public administration was new, a response to a rapidly changing government. The second era in public administration could be said to have begun with the Depression and the New Deal, followed by World War II. This era was characterized by the remarkably rapid growth of the government, particularly at the national level, the development of major American social programs, and ultimately the development of a huge defense program. At this time it became apparent that a large and centralized government can accomplish heroic tasks. Patterns were being developed and attitudes framed for the conduct of American government and the practices of public administration for the coming twenty years. This era also produced most of the major American scholars in public administration who were to dominate the scene from the 1940s into the 1970s. The period that followed was characterized by rapid growth in the public service and by extensive suburbanization and urbanization. But it was also a period of great questioning of the purposes and premises of public administration. A broad variety of social programs and services were developed, a cold war machine was maintained, and the public service continued both to grow and to professionalize. It seemed as if such expansion could go on endlessly. But by the mid-1960s several crises were developing simultaneously. In many ways, these crises seemed in part to result from the excesses of an earlier time. In other ways, they seemed to be an expression of old and unanswered problems built into our society and our system of government. The urban crisis resulted from relentless suburbanization governmentally supported. The racial crisis is closely connected, resulting in part from the serious ghettoization of American minorities in the central sections of our great cities. As the central cities have deteriorated, so have their public services. We continue to have unacceptable levels of unemployment, especially among minorities. And our welfare system is badly overloaded. The rapid depletion of our fuel resources results in an energy crisis, which comes hard on the heels of the environmental crisis. And, of course, there is health care, transportation, and on and on. All of these crises have affected public administration. Three particular events or activities occurred between the mid-1960s and 1970s that indelibly marked the society and the government and, hence, public administration: the war in Vietnam, the urban riots and continued racial strife, and Watergate. These crises and events resulted in new government programs and changed ways of thinking about and practicing public administration. Frederick C. Mosher and John C. Honey studied the characteristics and composition of the public service in the mid-1960s. 3 Their basic finding was that most public servants feel little or no identity with the field of public administration. Few have ever had a course and fewer still hold a degree in the subject. Public administration at the time seemed to have a rather narrow definition of its purposes, centering primarily on budgeting, personnel, and organization and management problems. Most public servants, it was found, identify with some or another professional field, such as education, community planning, law, public health, or engineering. Even many of those who would be expected to identify with public administration are more particularly interested in some subset of the field, such as finance, personnel, policy analysis, and the like. There was very little policy emphasis in public administration very little discussion of defense policy, environmental policy, economic policy, urban policy. There was, at the time, much talk of public administration as everyones second profession. Education for public administration in the mid-1960s hardly sparkled. The early furor of the reformers had died. The American Society for Public Administration was beginning to struggle. By the late 1970s, public administration had changed, both in its practice and its teaching. There are many indicators: the Intergovernmental Personnel Act; Title IX of the Higher Education Act; the Federal Executive Institute and the Federal Executive Seminars; the remarkable growth and vigor of education for public service; the Presidents Management Intern Program; the Harry S. Truman Foundation; the size and quality of ASPA; the development of the Consortium on Education for the Public Service; several HUD grants to public administration-related activities; a much heavier policy emphasis; a renewed concern for ethics and morality in government service; and the continued professionalization of the public service coupled with refinement of management methods at all levels of government. To affix the label new to anything is risky business. The risk is doubled when newness is attributed to ideas, thoughts, concepts, paradigms, theories. Those who claim new thinking tend to regard previous thought as old or jejune or both. In response, the authors of previous thought are defensive and inclined to suggest that aside from having packaged earlier thinking in a new vocabulary there is little that is really new in so-called new thinking. Accept, therefore, this caveat: Parts of new public administration would be recognized by Plato, Hobbes, Machiavelli, Hamilton, and Jefferson as well as by many modern behavioral theorists. The newness is in the way the fabric is woven, not necessarily in the threads that are used. And the newness is in arguments as to the proper use of the fabric however threadbare. The threads of the public administration fabric are well known. Herbert Kaufman describes them simply as the pursuit of these basic values: representativeness, politically neutral competence, and executive leadership (Kaufman, 1969). In different times, one or the other of these values receives the greatest emphasis. Representativeness was preeminent in the Jacksonian era. The eventual reaction was the reform movement emphasizing neutral competence and executive leadership. Now we are witnessing a revolt against these values accompanied by a search for new modes of representativeness. Others have argued that changes in public administration resemble a zero-sum game between administrative efficiency and political responsiveness. Any increase in efficiency results a priori in a decrease in responsiveness. We are simply entering a period during which political responsiveness is to be purchased at a cost in administrative efficiency. Clearly, the most interesting developments in modern public administration are not empirical but are philosophical, normative, and speculative. In public administration, the phrase social equity has emerged as a shorthand way of referring to the concerns and opinions of those who are challenging contemporary theory and practice. As yet, the phrase social equity, however, has little substance or precision. The problem of equity is as old as government. Dwight Waldo (1972) points out that much governmental action in the United States has not been simply discriminatory but massively and harshly so. Much governmental action has also, however, been directed toward achieving equality; paradoxically, action to assure assimilation and uniformity also has sometimes been insensitive and coercive. â€Å"Equality, he concludes, is central to the understanding of much recent and contemporary public administration. It has been seriously suggested that social equity be a standard by which public administrators, both in the bureau and the academy, assess and evaluate their behavior and decisions. Social equity, then, would be a criterion for effectiveness in public administration in the same way that efficiency, economy, productivity, and other criteria are used. Whenever an ethic or standard for behavior is described, it is essential to provide an accompanying caveat. In the present case, the social equity point of view will need to be buffered by recognition first that there is a high ethical content in most significant public decisions; public problems do not succumb simply to factual analysis. This being the case, if the public servant is to be an interpreter of events and an influencer, if not a maker of decisions, what, then, should be included in the standards of ethical behavior that guide the public servant? Surely the standards of ethics and morality that are applicable and sufficient to a citizen in private or in social relationships are not adequate for the public decisions of an administrator. And it is now increasingly clear that the decision problems faced by these administrators are seldom black or white in relation to their ethical content and consequences. There often is really no one best way, but rather a decision should be made that maximizes such results as are attainable given the resources available and minimizes negative side effects. And finally, one must accept the proposition that politics and administrative organizations are themselves the best protectors of administrative morality provided that they are open, public, and participatory. Within this context, then, we pursue the development of a social equity ethic for public administration. Modern public administration cannot assume these conditions away. Certainly pluralistic governments (practicing majority rule, coupled with powerful minorities with special forms of access) systematically discriminate in favor of established, stable bureaucracies and their specialized clientele and against those minorities who lack political and economic resources. Thus widespread and deep inequity are perpetuated. The long-range continuation of widespread and deep inequities poses a threat to the continued existence of this or any political system. Continued deprivation amid plenty breeds hopelessness and her companions, anger and militancy. A public administration that fails to work for changes that try to address this deprivation will likely eventually be used to oppress the deprived. What new public administration is striving for, then, is equity. Blacks Law Dictionary (1957) defines equity in its broadest and most general signification: [Equity] denotes the spirit and the habit of fairness and justness and right dealing which would regulate the intercourse of men with men, the rule of doing to all others, as we desire them to do to us; or, as it is expressed by Justinian, to live honestly, to harm nobody, to render every man his due. It is therefore, the synonym of natural right or justice. But in this sense its obligation is ethical rather than jural, and its discussion belongs to the sphere of morals. It is grounded in the precepts of the conscience not in any sanction of positive law. Equity, then, is an issue that we will find to be a question of ethics. We will also find it to be a question of law. The foremost theorist presently supporting a concept of equity in government is John Rawls (1971). In his book A Theory of Justice, he sets out a splendid framework for a fundamental equity ethic. When speaking of our government institutions, Rawls states: For us the primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society, or more exactly, the way in which the major social institutions distribute fundamental rights and duties and determine the division of advantages from social cooperation. By major institutions I understand the political constitution and the principal economic and social arrangements. Justice, then, is the basic principle and is dominant over other principles in Rawlss form of ethics. Rawls begins his theory with a definition of the individual or citizen and states: Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by the greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many. Therefore, in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interest. In developing his theory, Rawls suggests an intellectual device or technique by which the principles of equity can be set forth. The first and most important intellectual technique is the notion of original position. The original position constitutes an agreement upon the most basic principles of justice upon which all of the basic structures of society (social, economic, and political) will be predicated. The principles of justice that emerge are both final and binding on all: Since the original agreement is final and made in perpetuity, there is no second chance. To make this theory operative, Rawls then proposes two principles of justice: The first principle is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. The second principle is that social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both: (a) to the greatest benefit to the least advantaged, consistent with the just savings principle, and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality and opportunity. 11 These two principles, then, are to be a right of the same significance or order as the present rights as we understand them in government. Hart further states: According to Rawls, acceptance of the two principles of justice means that the collective efforts of society would be concentrated in behalf of its less advantaged members. This does not mean that all inequalities would disappear and all good will be equally distributed to achieve parity throughout the society. There would still be disparities in income and status. But there is an irreducible minimum of primary goods (such as self-respect, rights and liberties, power and opportunities, income and wealth) that are due every man, and the minimum must be met. 12 Rawls states that this is a strongly egalitarian conception in the sense that unless there is a distribution that makes both persons better off (limiting ourselves to the two-person case for simplicity), an equal distribution is to be preferred. 13 It is obvious that Rawls theory of justice is vastly different from other contemporary patterns of moral reasoning. Rawls does not argue it because it is good or right but rather because there is an increasing importance to the interdependence of persons that makes notions of advantages and disadvantages less and less acceptable. It is a pervasive sense of noblesse oblige or a sense of eternity among people. Rawls states that in justice as fairness men agree to share one anothers fate. In designing institutions they undertake to avail themselves of the accidents of nature and social circumstances only when doing so is for the common benefit. Because not all persons are genetically equal, the more advantaged have a moral duty to serve all others including the disadvantaged, not for altruistic reasons but because of the significance of human interdependence. As Hart (1974) says, One serves because justice requires it and the result is the continuous enhancement of self-respect. Just actions, then, not only create the optimal condition for human life, they also are a major element in the rationalization of self. Although all of this theory and definition is interesting, we live in a world of large and very complex organizations where the application of such concepts is difficult. This is also a world in which organizations tend to elevate their own needs over individual needs and goals. The problem is one of making complex organizations responsible to the needs of the individual. This requires rising above the rules and routines of organization to some concern for the self-respect and dignity of the individual citizen. Rawlss theory is designed to instruct those who administer organizations that the rights of individuals would be everywhere protected. Hart summarizes this approach to social equity with the following: (1) The theory of justice would provide social equity with an ethical content. Acceptance of the theory of justice would provide the equitable public administrator with clear, well-developed ethical guidelines which would give social equity the force that it now lacks. (2) The theory of justice could provide the necessary ethical consensus -that the equitable public administrator has both the duty and the obligation to deploy his efforts on behalf of the less advantaged. (3) The theory of justice would impose constraints upon all complex public organizations since no organization would be allowed to infringe upon the basic liberties of individuals. (4) The theory of justice would provide a means to resolve ethical impasses (the original position). (5) The theory of justice would provide a professional code for public administration that would require a commitment to social equity (Hart, 1974).

The Misfit in A Good Man Is Hard to Find Essay -- Flannery OConnor

Misfit or Savior Should The Misfit be perceived as an evil, psychotic hoodlum as portrayed in the story, or does he save us from hearing any more religious rhetoric from the grandmother? â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† repeatedly preaches morality while giving readers the illusion that the Misfit is possibly a dark angel, in fact, the Misfit simply kills the family in order to prevent the family from giving away his route of escape. Ultimately, the act of saving one’s own life by killing cannot be judged as being wrong, the Misfit saves himself along with his supposed criminal counterparts, Bobby Lee and Hiram. The story provides no evidence or background on what crimes the Misfit and his gang have committed, therefore, the reader must not view them as being heartless animals. This essay will attempt to persuade the reader to understand the motives of the Misfit, hopefully depict him as a savior for ending the grandmother’s religious jargon, and disprove that he resembled any religious character. The Misfit is described in the story as a violent, hard-core criminal with an imbalanced mind unfit for society, a local newspaper reports that the Misfit has escaped the federal penitentiary and is believed to be extremely dangerous. â€Å"Here this fellow calls himself The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to these people. Just you read it. I wouldn’t take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. I couldn’t answer to my conscience if I did† (249). The criminal justice system of the 1950’s can be described as very impartial and flawed, the story doesn’t tell the reader what crime was committed, but it does imply that the Misfit may have... ... be imagined if someone is deeply religious, and cannot simply see that the Misfit kills the grandmother because she lacks tact and to ensure his escape is successful. Although readers can assume so many symbolic coincidences throughout the story, we must face reality, symbolism doesn’t prove the existence of supernatural powers among us. The Misfit’s actions came from his motivation to survive his escape to freedom, while ending the life of a woman with ancient views of the world. Despite the grandmother’s cries for her own salvation, the absence of any supernatural being is revealed in the story. The world can look at the Misfit as a savior when it comes to eliminating a racist as well. Works Cited O?Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York. HarperCollins, 1991. 907-917.

Bullying in School

Bullying: 1. I read the article, â€Å"Jury Orders School District to Pay $800,000 to Bullied Student. † This article was about a boy named Dane Patterson, who had been bullied all through middle school and his early high school career. He claims that the school failed to protect him from years of bullying, and it finally came to be enough when he was sexually harassed in the locker room. As a result to this, the Patterson family filed a lawsuit under Title IX of the Equal Opportunity in Education Act, using the sexual harassment story as the basis.This week, the jury ordered the school district to pay Dane $800,000 to make up for the damages and trauma caused by the ongoing situation. Anti-bullying experts argue that this verdict will send a clear message to schools that they are in fact responsible for sexual harassment and bullying, and that they must keep a constant eye out for such behavior. 2. In my opinion, I do not think schools should be held fully responsible for bul lying.I think that maybe they should make more of an effort to prevent it, but there is no way they can take care of all the bullying issues that happen in school. For example, some kids don’t even make an effort to ask for help, or let anyone know they are being bullied, so the school shouldn’t be held accountable for a situation they aren’t even aware is occurring to begin with. In Dane’s situation however, I believe the school should be held responsible because he clearly asked for help and didn’t receive any, and this had been going on since middle school!I think that schools should be fully accountable only if the child seeks out help numerous times and doesn’t receive it, or if the school doesn’t do everything in their power to make the bullying go away. On the other hand, there are some situations which the school cannot control, like I said in the first example; if that is the case, I don’t believe the school should be held responsible. 3. I believe that the parents of the bully’s should be held at least somewhat responsible for their child’s actions because then they could stop the bullying before it gets out of control.Ultimately, schools are responsible for keeping an eye out on bullying and regulating the behavior, but there are some cases in which they just cannot control, therefore they shouldn’t be held responsible. Obesity: 1. For obesity, I read the article, â€Å"Pepsi Initiates Move to Pull Sugared Soft Drinks from Schools in 200 Countries. † This article was about PepsiCo Inc’s announcement, as of Tuesday of this week, about how they planning to remove all of their full-calorie sweetened soft drinks from schools in more than 200 countries by the year 2012 to reduce the trend of obesity.The article also mentions that earlier this month, Coca-Cola made a similar announcement, but they feel they should only eliminate soft drink sales from schools only if parents make a request. Of course, both companies realize that eliminating soft drinks will not end the rising trend of childhood obesity, but they believe that learning better eating and drinking habits in schools are certainly a step in the right direction. 2. I don’t think that schools should be held accountable for obesity in any sense.Schools should strive to sell healthier food, but they are not the cause of obesity. The school is not responsible for the amount of food a child buys, so schools should not be responsible for obesity. 3. In my opinion, obesity is more caused by eating habits in life outside of school, such as home or going out and getting fast food all the time. It’s even genetic. I don’t believe schools should be responsible for obesity because the child controls their own eating habits, not the school. Bullying in School Bullying should be a crime. It is very cruel and unethical. â€Å"Each day an estimated 160,000 students miss school for fear of being bullied and 10 percent of students who drop out do so because of repeated bullying† (Dalton 1). The way it makes children feel isn’t fair. Imagine that happening to yourself. Bullying in schools presents problems to every age group therefore there should be more bullying prevention programs to help get rid of the problem. Younger age Bullying is a topic that needs to be talked about.Younger age is defined from kindergarten to seventh grade. Children bully because they feel they need to overpower people. They also bully because they think they are better than others or some people just have a low self-esteem. When Younger kids bully it is normally name calling, teasing, or making fun of them by the way they look, speak, or even how smart they are! Older age bullying is another one of my topics. Older age bullying is defined from the grade s of eighth to a senior in high school.People in the Older age group bully for mainly the same reasons. When older people normally bully, it is a lot more sever then younger age bullying. â€Å"Although most victims of bullying in schools are too meek to take matter into their own hands, a few of them can be pushed to certain critical limits. 60% of identified bullies during their grade 6-9 years eventually got involved in at least one criminal conviction by age 24. † Bullying in Schools (1). Older age bullying normally ends up violent and is a lot more severe then younger age bullying.They get into fights or harassment is filed, these are the main things that happen. People will take all of someones strength and will and harass or fight them just to make them feel better about themselves. This is bad because the children who are being bullied do not deserve what they are getting. Nobody deserves to be harassed and manipulated for no reason or any reason. Most of the time, th e people that are being bullied, it isn’t their fault at all. Prevention is another area of concern.According to the online article, â€Å"Bullying Academy,† every school needs a anti-bully website for students, educators, and parents. This world needs to realize what is going on with bullying in schools and take action(1). Every school should have monitors of bullying throughout the halls and classrooms all day long. This is just one thing you could do to prevent bullying. There are many things that you could do, depending on what one your school board would like the most. Every city or town should take money from their funds and put it into schools and bullying prevention programs.According to the online article â€Å"Caring School Community,† â€Å"prevention focuses on strengthening students’ connectedness to school—an important element for increasing academic motivation and achievement and for reducing drug use, violence, and delinquency. â⠂¬  Every school should have a bullying prevention program, where parents and students could come and learn about bullying. These programs could also talk about how it affects people. They should give statistics about what people who bully end up doing in their lives and what people that don’t bully end up doing in their lives. I also think we are making important progress towards discovering how successful anti-bullying programs can be† (Dr. Ken 1). Bullying in schools is wrong and we should have more bullying prevention programs. My main point in writing this paper is to inform people that bullying is wrong. Also I wish that everyone be more aware about the situation, and don’t deny it because it is happening whether you would like to admit it or not. People need to stand up and take charge and make a change in peoples lives. People who are being bullied would love if you took a couple hours of your week just to help them get over the struggles in life. Bullying in School Bullying: 1. I read the article, â€Å"Jury Orders School District to Pay $800,000 to Bullied Student. † This article was about a boy named Dane Patterson, who had been bullied all through middle school and his early high school career. He claims that the school failed to protect him from years of bullying, and it finally came to be enough when he was sexually harassed in the locker room. As a result to this, the Patterson family filed a lawsuit under Title IX of the Equal Opportunity in Education Act, using the sexual harassment story as the basis.This week, the jury ordered the school district to pay Dane $800,000 to make up for the damages and trauma caused by the ongoing situation. Anti-bullying experts argue that this verdict will send a clear message to schools that they are in fact responsible for sexual harassment and bullying, and that they must keep a constant eye out for such behavior. 2. In my opinion, I do not think schools should be held fully responsible for bul lying.I think that maybe they should make more of an effort to prevent it, but there is no way they can take care of all the bullying issues that happen in school. For example, some kids don’t even make an effort to ask for help, or let anyone know they are being bullied, so the school shouldn’t be held accountable for a situation they aren’t even aware is occurring to begin with. In Dane’s situation however, I believe the school should be held responsible because he clearly asked for help and didn’t receive any, and this had been going on since middle school!I think that schools should be fully accountable only if the child seeks out help numerous times and doesn’t receive it, or if the school doesn’t do everything in their power to make the bullying go away. On the other hand, there are some situations which the school cannot control, like I said in the first example; if that is the case, I don’t believe the school should be held responsible. 3. I believe that the parents of the bully’s should be held at least somewhat responsible for their child’s actions because then they could stop the bullying before it gets out of control.Ultimately, schools are responsible for keeping an eye out on bullying and regulating the behavior, but there are some cases in which they just cannot control, therefore they shouldn’t be held responsible. Obesity: 1. For obesity, I read the article, â€Å"Pepsi Initiates Move to Pull Sugared Soft Drinks from Schools in 200 Countries. † This article was about PepsiCo Inc’s announcement, as of Tuesday of this week, about how they planning to remove all of their full-calorie sweetened soft drinks from schools in more than 200 countries by the year 2012 to reduce the trend of obesity.The article also mentions that earlier this month, Coca-Cola made a similar announcement, but they feel they should only eliminate soft drink sales from schools only if parents make a request. Of course, both companies realize that eliminating soft drinks will not end the rising trend of childhood obesity, but they believe that learning better eating and drinking habits in schools are certainly a step in the right direction. 2. I don’t think that schools should be held accountable for obesity in any sense.Schools should strive to sell healthier food, but they are not the cause of obesity. The school is not responsible for the amount of food a child buys, so schools should not be responsible for obesity. 3. In my opinion, obesity is more caused by eating habits in life outside of school, such as home or going out and getting fast food all the time. It’s even genetic. I don’t believe schools should be responsible for obesity because the child controls their own eating habits, not the school.

Death Penalty Essay Outline - 1443 Words

Introduction: Today there are many injustices in this world, however some are overlooked in todays society. One of these acts is the Death Penalty. The Death Penalty, or Capital punishment has been around for centuries first appearing in Hamarabis code. In modern society the death penalty is often overlooked because normally it is a criminal receiving the punishment and not your everyday good citizen. Which is where the main argument lies for most people. The Death Penalty can affect all people, directly or indirectly, yet most people dont see it this way. From the stoning in the late B.C. era to the lethal injection, many modern governments, including the united States. have sentenced many to death for years, without realizing their†¦show more content†¦Yet, the abolitionists failed to gain a majority of the states even in modern times. Due to many of the states having the death penalty the question lies why? Why would so many states have the death penalty when some find it completely u necessary, and its even cheaper to imprison people for life. (To Execute or Not: A Question of Cost?†) The problem for most states is overcrowding in the prison system, which has gotten increasingly bigger and more of a problem each year. As it turns out, money is not the problem at all, in fact its ten times cheaper to imprison someone then to kill them. Death by execution is excessively expensive, and most who support it believe it is cheaper than imprisonment. (The Gainesville Sun, on Apr. 18, 2012). The death penalty though has been revolutionized since its beginings, which then draws more to believe it is the better solution, or so one would think. In 1790, Thomas Bird became the first person to be executed under the United States Constitution, he was executed by hanging. Since that time there have been many variations of carrying out the punishment such as firing squad, electric chair, lethal gas, and finally lethal injection the most used today. In reality, today, becau se the public has been more educated by sources such as the media which instead brings drawbacks to methods like the lethal injection. In a way many states have tried to find a more humane way of killing someone as punishment, which is virtuallyShow MoreRelatedPunishing Criminals by Death Will Deter Future Crimes...or Not?1216 Words   |  5 PagesOutline The paper introduces the assumptions that people have that punishing criminals by death will deter future crimes. The paragraph further explains how human behavior is related to acts of crime. The essay gives an example of Canada. How crime was not deterred by the imposition of death penalty as a tool used by the system of justice. 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